The Appeal to pity reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Appeal to pity

An appeal to pity (also called argumentum ad misericordiam) is a logical fallacy in which someone tries to win support for their argument or idea by exploiting their opponent's feelings of pity or guilt.

Examples:

• "I hope you like my proposal. It took me six years to write and I don't know what I'd do if you reject it."
• "Look at that poor homeless kitty. I bet it hasn't eaten in days. You should adopt it."

As with all logical fallacies, these ideas aren't necessarily bad; they just aren't good for the reason stated.

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